


Trust Only the Solid Rock

by Adapted_Batteries



Category: The Librarian (Movies), The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Jacob's a Guardian, M/M, The Librarian: Quest for the Spear, here have some more Flynnstone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-04 22:36:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17313116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adapted_Batteries/pseuds/Adapted_Batteries
Summary: After watching The Librarian: Quest for the Spear on New Year’s Day, I had an idea: what if Flynn’s first Guardian was Jacob Stone instead of Nicole Noone. So this is what I came up with, how things would’ve been different, and the same.





	Trust Only the Solid Rock

“And remember, trust only the solid rock,” Judson said. Flynn stuttered in confusion but Judson disappeared off the screen without clarifying his cryptic message.

At that moment, a rather gruff looking man entered the cabin, chatting with the pilot like they were old buddies. “Let Harrison know I said hi, alright?” the man said, clapping the pilot on the shoulder as he grinned at him. The pilot nodded, smiling as well, and then headed off to the cockpit. 

The man, who Flynn thought belonged somewhere in Texas, based on the blue and orange plaid western shirt and well worn jeans, continued down the aisle, stopping right at Flynn’s row. “Aw, was hopin’ for the aisle seat, little more room ya know?” The man’s southern drawl confirmed Flynn’s southern United States theory.

It was at this moment Flynn noticed how the blue on the cowboy’s shirt was the precise shade that matched his eyes. Flynn cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah, sure,” Flynn stammered, hastily moving himself and the book in his lap to the window seat. He forgot he had the tray of the window seat out, so his side slammed uncomfortably into it. It took ten obnoxious seconds for Flynn to finally get himself into the window seat. He expected the man to be annoyed with him, and it’d be a lie if Flynn said he wasn’t a little scared of the muscles underneath that shirt, but the man didn’t seem mad at all, in fact, he looked somewhat amused.

They both settled in to their seats as the flight attendant did the standard air safety spiel. It wasn’t until they had taken off that the cowboy gave in to his clear curiosity about the old book on Flynn’s lap. “What’s that there? Looks ancient.”

“That would be because it is,” Flynn replied. He knew he shouldn’t discuss the book with a stranger, but he had such bad impulse control when it came to anything he knew something about. “Written in the language of the birds, in fact, which no one can read. Well, not yet anyway.”

The man glanced down at the book, then back to Flynn. “And you’re gonna translate it on an airplane?”

“I have roughly seven hours to do so, so yes, I’ll be translating it on this plane. And I would like to get to work as soon as possible,” Flynn snapped.

The man just shook his head at him. “Sure you don’t want help on that?”

“No!” Flynn lowered his voice when other passengers looked at them. “No, I can do it, trust me.”

Now the man looked annoyed. “Fine, then.” He then faced forward, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. Flynn thought the man fell asleep, and would hopefully stay asleep the full flight, but an hour in, he opened his eyes and tried to sneak a glance at the text. 

“Do you mind?” Flynn growled, shifting closer to the bulkhead. 

“Am I not allowed to be curious?” the man growled back.

“It’s not like you could help anyway, Cowboy,” Flynn retorted, and then flinched when the man tensed.  _ He’s not going to punch me on a plane...right? _

The man closed his eyes for a moment, took a breath, then looked down at the text for a moment. “To best protect the staff of old from the hand of evil, split twice and scattered abroad-”

Flynn jerked the book away from the man. “How did you...who are you?”

The man smiled smugly. “The name’s Stone, Jacob Stone. And you’re Flynn Carsen, current Librarian I assume.”

_ How did know my name? How doe he know the language?  _ “Trust only the solid rock,” Flynn muttered, eyes narrowed at Jacob. Then Flynn sucked in a breath and grabbed his arm excitedly. “You’re the rock, the one Judson was talking about.”

Jacob let out a huff of air at the mention of Judson. “That’s how he briefed you on me? Classic Judson.”

“You didn’t answer my question. How do you know the language of the birds?” Flynn asked, releasing his arm and settling back into his chair.

“I know a whole lot. Enough I could’ve been in that seat right now,” Jacob said, nodding at Flynn.

“Then how come you aren’t? Surely if you know this,” Flynn shook the book gently, “then you’d be more than qualified to be the Librarian.”

“That’s what I thought a few years ago, but when I met Charlene, she congratulated me on becoming the new Guardian for Wilde,” Stone said, folding his arms across his chest like he was still annoyed at the decision. “Apparently my brawn was more important than my brains.”

“What’s a Guardian?”

Jacob looked at Flynn with pity. “They really didn’t tell you anything, huh?”

Flynn shook his head a bit too forcefully. “They don’t tell me  _ anything _ , and when they do, it’s cryptic, or not useful things like ‘save my receipts.’”

“I’d get used to that, if you wanna keep the job,” Jacob said, smiling at him. “A Guardian protects the Librarian. It’s a dangerous job in a lot of ways, and it’s my job to try to keep you alive to keep on doin’ it.”

Flynn nodded, then tilted his head like a dog. “What happened to the last Librarian?”

Jacob’s mood darkened. “He died, because I didn’t do my job good enough. And I’m not gonna let that happen again.”

Flynn was not sure how to respond to that information. “That’s...good to know.” He cleared his throat, not a fan of having Jacob brooding next to him. “So this book, you can translate it?”

“Sure, but so far I have no clue what it’s talkin’ about,” Jacob said, looking down at the book. “I’m better with art and literature and languages."

“Well, I can handle that,” Flynn said, savoring the fact that he still seemed to be the Librarian for a reason.

\---

They made it through most of the book, then as soon as Jacob got up to go to the lavatory, Flynn was promptly almost kidnapped. Thankfully Jacob heard the commotion and burst out of the lavatory and knocked some goons about, krav maga style Flynn noted. To say Flynn wasn’t impressed by the speed at which Jacob disabled their wannabe captors would be a lie. And then Flynn forgot all about Jacob’s fighting style when the Guardian shoved him out of the plane with no parachute.

For a good ten seconds, Flynn was free falling, screaming all the while. And then an arm grabbed him by the torso, pulling him flush against someone, and then there was a jerk of a parachute unfurling as the other arm of this person secured Flynn. 

They were drifting at a much less deadly speed now, but Flynn was still screaming. “Shut it, would you?” Jacob rumbled in his ear, loud against the woosh of the wind around them. Flynn stopped screaming, mainly because within another ten seconds they were tumbling to the rainforest floor.

Once Flynn righted himself, he turned towards Jacob, somehow already standing there like Flynn took five minutes to stand up. “You! Do not shove me out of a plane!” Flynn shouted, poking Jacob harshly in the chest. 

Jacob stared him down. “We had no choice. If we stayed, we would’ve been captured.”

“You don’t know that! It looked like you had it handled.”

“Don’t question my judgment,” Jacob snarled, putting some space in between them. “Where are we?”

Flynn thought for a moment, thinking of the flight plan and their trajectory. “I need to get above the canopy to know for sure, but we should be fairly close to the secret Mayan temple.”

“Then get up that tree there,” Jacob said, pointing to a thick tree.

“Sure, I’ll just...climb this tree here,” Flynn said, walking over to the tree. Fueled by Jacob’s unimpressed look, Flynn scaled the tree.

Above the canopy, Flynn got confirmation of their location. Annoyingly, Jacob climbed the tree too, and looked annoyingly less winded than Flynn felt. “I’d say we’re about twenty miles away,” Jacob said, squinting at the temple in the distance.

“Nineteen and a third,” Flynn grumbled under his breath.

Jacob rolled his eyes. “Then we should get going,” he said, then left Flynn sitting at the top of the tree.

\---

Trekking in the forest was not a thing Flynn really wanted to do, at least not so unprepared, but Jacob didn’t seemed to mind roughing it. They were sitting around a little campfire, eating roasted squirrels that Jacob had trapped earlier. It was quiet without it actually being quiet; the rainforest had plenty of noises, some Flynn didn’t want to think about, but he and Jacob ate in silence, at least, for a little while.

“So...what did you do before you came to the Library? Professor? Grad school?”

Jacob chuckled, shaking his head. “None of that. I was working on an oil rig when I got the letter, and before that I had a couple year stint at land surveying.”

Flynn blinked. “Oh.” He took a bite of meat to occupy his mouth, but the question came out anyway. “Then how did you...learn?”

“Not everyone has to learn through school, Flynn,” Jacob replied. “There wasn’t anythin’ stoppin’ me from reading books from my town’s library as a kid. And the internet is pretty nifty.”

“But...you’re brilliant. Why oil?”

Jacob kicked a little stone into the fire. “My dad has...had an oil company, one of the biggest local ones in Oklahoma. He expected me to run it, and for awhile I did.” He paused, pulling at meat with his teeth, but he eventually continued when Flynn wouldn’t quit staring at him. “My pa, he wasn’t one for smarts, or for people who had ‘em. He was worse than the kids at school.”

“So you hid it,” Flynn said. He hadn’t meant to be sarcastic or anything, but he was bad with the whole social interaction thing.

“Yeah, I did, and what of it?” Jacob glared at him. “Just because I didn’t study like you doesn’t mean I’m any less smart than you.”

Flynn cleared his throat awkwardly, finishing his roasted squirrel. “You, uh, wouldn’t happen to have toilet paper on you?”

Flynn hated the fact that the fire made Jacob’s eyes very piercing, because they were attempting to murder him with a look. Jacob took a knife from his boot, stabbed a leaf, and offered it to Flynn. “Be my guest.”

“Thanks,” Flynn said, taking the leaf and walking away from Jacob. Conveniently, he walked towards the cliff they’d camped near, and happened to see a group of not nice looking people around their own fire. He near sprinted back to Jacob. “We have friends!” he shout-whispered.

Jacob sprang up and followed Flynn to get a glimpse, and then promptly went and put the fire out. “They won’t scale the cliff ‘till morning.” He then settled down next to the dying embers, apparently ready to sleep for the night.

Without the fire, Flynn was acutely aware of the drop in temperature. “It’s, uh, it’s getting cold without that fire. We may need to do something to keep us warm.”

“Are you askin’ to cuddle?” Jacob looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

“No! Uh, I just, was making an observation,” Flynn stammered, pacing around the dead fire. 

“Get over here,” Jacob commanded, and it was a voice Flynn was not going to disobey. He sat down next to Jacob, leaving space in between them. Jacob eyed the gap. “That’s not gonna keep us warm.”

Flynn tried to restrain himself, but still probably got right up against Jacob a bit too quickly. The cowboy-fighter didn’t seem to notice. Despite the exhaustion, Flynn’s limbs were buzzing with energy.  _ What am I, a teenager?  _ Jacob made it worse when he wrapped an arm around Flynn’s waist and said into his ear, “try to get some sleep, you’ll need it.” 

\---

They were up and moving as soon as it got bright enough to make out general shapes of plants, hopefully leaving the people down below none the wiser. They continued hiking through the rainforest...happened on some locals, where of course Jacob spoke their dialect of Portuguese perfectly (and it sounded stupidly good coming out of his mouth, Flynn noted). Jacob even didn’t seem to mind when Flynn geeked out about the mating dance they got to watch that night. In fact, if Flynn wasn’t in such a weird situation, he’d say Jacob was watching him  _ fondly _ that whole night. 

It would’ve been nice to spend more time at the village, but the Serpent Brotherhood showed up the next morning, prompting Flynn and Jacob to flee into the jungle. They ran as fast as the forest floor would let them, and took a plunge over a waterfall to put distance between them and their pursuers. Flynn noted that Jacob’s soaked undershirt (he had his western shirt tied around his waist to dry), clung obscenely to his solid torso and muscular arms.

They got to the temple as the sun neared three in the afternoon. Flynn took over on that one, about got them killed but then saved them, thankfully. When they walked into the treasure room, Jacob kept Flynn from being stupid by dragging him back before he could go mess around with the piece of spear on the pedestal. “Woah there, these things are near always booby trapped. Don’t ever go wanderin’ up to something like that,” Jacob said.

Flynn felt himself flush. “I knew that.”

“Uh huh.” Jacob looked around the room, trying to find a release for whatever trap was inevitably on that pedestal. Flynn wanted to beat Jacob to the punch, so with his quick thinking, he took a rock and threw it at the spear piece, knocking it to the floor.

Jacob spun around to Flynn. “What did you-” A large stone face slamming into the space in front of the pedestal cut him off. Jacob looked at it a bit, then said, “Well, that works.”

They left the temple much quicker than it took them to get in, however the Serpent Brotherhood goons were standing right outside. Considering the odds if they tried to flee, Jacob and Flynn complied, and were dragged harshly through the jungle to a makeshift camp nearby. Someone was in the farthest tent they were facing, based on the rustling Flynn could hear. The person stepped out, and Flynn couldn’t believe his eyes at who was standing in front of him. 

Jacob was furious. “Ed...you died...you...how…” It took three men to restrain him.

The apparently-not-deceased, previous Librarian shook his head like Jacob was slow. “What you saw was a special effect. Though your tears were perfect,” Edward said. Jacob bristled, but stayed put as the men restraining him prodded his sides with their guns. Edward looked to Flynn with disgust. “You’re the Librarian?”

Jacob ignored Edward’s jab. “Why?”

Edward swaggered closer to Jacob. “Absolute power, who wouldn’t? Oh, that would be you, the Guardian who hated magic.”

Then three men were not enough to restrain Jacob. He lashed out, grabbing Edward by the throat, before two more men joined the first three to push him back. Flynn noticed the red finger-length marks on Edward’s neck.

Edward coughed a little, grimacing, but then cocked his gun and aimed right at Jacob’s chest. “Goodbye Jacob. It was nice to see you again.”

Before Edward could fire, Flynn leaped in front of Jacob. “You can’t kill him.”

Edward looked at him. “Why not?”

Flynn stood a little straighter, adrenaline substituting for confidence. “Because you need me to find the last piece, and I won’t do it without him.”

Shoving his gun in the back of his pants, Edward closed the five feet between him and Flynn. “I don’t need you. I have this,” he said as took the book out from Flynn’s messenger bag and started flipping through the pages. Edward looked at Flynn in disbelief. “The language of the birds. No one can read this!”

“No one except a real Librarian,” Jacob said from behind Flynn. 

Flynn bit back the immediate thought that Jacob technically translated it first. Instead, he started speaking in the language of the birds. “Tu zak su auk chi, coo coo coo coo coo coo coo caksi, kappa pippsi pash. In the language of the birds, that means you’re up a creek, and I’ve got the only paddle.”

Edward slammed the book shut. “Tell me where the third piece is, and I’ll let him live.”

“Don’t tell him,” Jacob said to Flynn.

“It’s in Shangri-La,” Flynn said.

Jacob kicked him in the back of the leg. Flynn winced, but Edward didn’t seem to notice. “Don’t screw with me, that’s a legend.”

“Shangri-La is in Mount Kailesh, in the Himalayas,” Flynn said, then turned his head to look at Jacob. “Excuse me for trying to save your life...again.”

“The spear is more important than my life, Flynn,” Jacob growled, his menacing tone making the mercenaries around them anxious. 

“He’s not gonna get anywhere near that spear, unless I interpret the clues in there,” Flynn said, nodding to the book. 

\---

In captivity, they were shoved through the jungle to an airstrip, onto a plane, under constant watch of at least four men at any time. Both Flynn and Jacob took the break to get rest, and eat what little food they were given. Only when they were scaling mountains in the Himalayas did the security dwindle, though there wasn’t exactly anywhere for them to escape to anyway. 

Flynn did not want to visit Shangri-La like this, but Jacob seemed even more distraught about it. “What’s wrong?” he whispered, hoping to not provoke the goons dragging both of them along.

“I...I trained here, to fight, and now I’m here in captivity to take the very thing they’ve sworn to protect,” Jacob replied, looking at the ground the whole time. Flynn noticed the monks were watching the Guardian, giving various looks of concern, disappointment, and pity, but the one in the center had no expression on his face.

“Welcome. It has been long prophesied that you would come today,”  the monk in the middle said.

Edward, not one for pleasantries anymore, pushed in between Flynn and Jacob while the rest of the goons aimed their guns at the monks. “Give us the spear piece.”

The monk in the middle sighed, and then let them into the temple. The Serpent Brotherhood mercenaries shoved Flynn and Jacob through the temple to the golden statue in the back of the room. 

“It is hidden inside,” the monk told Edward.

“Open it,” Edward demanded. 

“We are the meer keepers. We have no idea how to open it,” the monk replied.

Edward shoved Flynn forward. “Fortunately, he does.” Flynn slowly made his way up to the statue, but apparently it wasn't fast enough for Edward. He pulled out his gun and aimed it at Jacob’s head. “Get the spear piece, or I blow his brains out.”

Flynn raised his hands to show he was complying, took out the book, and looked at it for few moments. “Uh...this can’t be right,” Flynn said, flipping through pages.

“What?!” Edward said, shoving Jacob forward so he could see but still keep his leverage on Flynn. 

“Well, this says it can only be opened with the name of god.”

“So?”

“So, the name of god is only the biggest secret in the WORLD. Over four thousand years, people have been trying to figure out, you expect me to come up with it in fifteen seconds?” Flynn retorted. 

Edward replied by cocking his gun and re-aiming it at Jacob’s occipital bone. 

Defeated, Flynn rolled his sleeves up a little and studied the characters on the statue’s stomach. After a few moments, he smiled. “M...E,” he said as he touched two symbols. The symbols glowed, then the whole stomach section glowed around the edges and retreated into the statue with a bright flash, revealing the spear blade. “Me, god is within us all,” Flynn explained.

The monk who had greeted them smiled and nodded at Flynn as Edward released Jacob and made his way up to the blade. Flynn, wanting to pull a fast one on Edward, stood up in resignation. “Go ahead, take it.” He winked to Jacob, who looked about ready to take out all the Serpent Brotherhood around him.

Edward about fell for it, going so far as to reach his hand just across the threshold of the compartment, but then he stood up and looked at Flynn. “No, you take it,” Edward commanded. Flynn, not wanting to show his concern, did so, but his hesitation gave him away. “Problem?”

Flynn shook his head, and proceeded to pull the blade out quickly, with no ill effects.  _ That’s not right.  _ Edward swiped the blade from him as Flynn glanced around the room in confusion. 

“Lars, fly up here now, track my signal,” Edward said into a walkie talkie, staring at the blade in his hand like he just had the world handed to him. Just then, the statute started to descend into the floor.

“About time,” Flynn told the statue as a gong sounded, and the temple started shaking.

Things descended into chaos. The monks took advantage of it, targeting the Serpent Brotherhood. Jacob grabbed the blade from Edward after elbowing him in the stomach, then grabbed Flynn’s arm and dragged him through the chaos, though they had to get past enemies first...or rather, Jacob took care of them quickly in a similar yet different style than the monks were using around them. 

Seeing their escape, Edward blocked their path. “Give me the spear!”

Jacob took the blade in his hand and chucked it across the room into the chaos.

“Noo! Get the spear!” Edward roared, pushing past them into the room.

Jacob continued leading Flynn out of the collapsing temple, ignoring his “but the blade!” until they were outside. 

“Hold on, we have to get the spear piece,” Flynn said as soon as they stopped.

Jacob pulled out the blade in the sheath built into his boot. “If you wanna hide something, you do it in plain sight.”

The monk that had first greeted them ran up to them. “The spear must be protected.”

“Master-” Jacob started, but the man held up a hand to stop his sentence.

“Protect it. You cannot fight a crowd alone, Jacob. We will rebuild. Do your duty.”

Jacob looked like he had more to say, but he just nodded, grabbed Flynn’s wrist, and ran off to the helicopter that had just conveniently landed on the lawn.

\---

With their new helicopter, they flew towards the nearest blip of civilization that was big enough to have a hotel, and promptly booked themselves a room. Flynn didn’t blink an eye at sharing a room, but he gawked when the manager informed them there was only one bed.

“It’s not like we didn’t just spend a week in each other’s company. Any bed is better than camping outside again, and I don’t want to let you out of my sight when they’re still lookin’ for us,” Jacob said. He then thanked the manager and took the room key, expecting Flynn to follow him to the elevator, which he did.

The room itself was fine. Flynn claimed the bathroom first, hoping the warm shower and scrubbing off a week’s worth of grime would let him fall asleep quickly. Eventually he forced himself out of the shower so Jacob could use it. 

Just as Jacob stepped into the bathroom, the tv turned itself on. Judson was in the screen. “Mr. Carson.”

“Judson! You and everyone at the Library can completely relax. We have the third piece of the spear right,” he paused to dig under the bed to retrieve it, “right here. Completely safe.”

Judson nodded in approval. “Good work. I still can’t believe that Wilde joined the Serpent Brotherhood. He was a fine Librarian. Thank goodness we have a…a better one now.” Flynn wiggled a little where he was sitting on the bed, savoring the praise. “Get some rest, and return to the Library as soon as possible,” Judson said, and then the tv turned off, ending the conversation.

Once Judson’s image fizzled out, Flynn let himself lay down on the bed, the left side when looking at the bed, leaving more than enough room for Jacob to sleep on. His back ached at the soft mattress after several nights of sleeping on the ground, so he shifted around until he was on his side, back facing the edge of the bed. He was exhausted, but of course his brain didn’t want to rest quite yet, so he laid there, staring at the wall, trying to process his past week. He did his best to ignore the steam curling from under the bathroom door, to not think about how he'd rather be back in that shower, listening to that southern voice sing some country song without a door and a shower curtain between them.

And then all thoughts of anything ceased to be at the forefront of his brain when Jacob walked out of the muggy bathroom, only pajama bottoms on, towel draped around his neck. And of course, Flynn's mouth acted of its own accord. “You're not wearing a shirt.”

Jacob looked at him, thought a moment, and then said, in a rather gravelly voice, “No, I'm not. Accidentally left it out here.” He nodded at the shirt still sitting on top of the dresser.

“Hmm, was it truly an accident?” Flynn asked. And then he processed those words and sat up quickly. “I'm sorry, uh, I-”

“Do you want it to be on purpose?” Jacob asked. He kept eye contact with Flynn as he ran the towel through his damp hair slowly. “‘Cuz it could've been.”

“Uh, well, um,” said Flynn eloquently. 

Jacob chuckled. “You sure have a way with words, Flynn.” 

“Well, you make it hard to think,” Flynn retorted. He meant it to be a jab, but it just came out as a compliment.

“Do I now?” Jacob said with a smirk. He slowly walked over to the side of the bed Flynn was sitting. “Tell me, Flynn, what would you like to do right now?”

With Jacob’s solid body right in front of him, and the way he was practically purring Flynn’s name, it took a couple tries for Flynn to get words to work. “Right now? I, uh, I…”

“Would you rather show me?” Jacob asked, leaning down at the hips so his face was level with Flynn’s. Flynn nodded, and didn’t stop nodding until his face pressed against Jacob’s. Jacob kissed him for a moment, then pulled away, smiling at the way Flynn tried to follow him. “Hold on, now. Why don’t we get into a more comfortable position, hmm?” Flynn nodded yet again, but Jacob got him to stop by gently holding his jaw with one hand, the other stabilizing himself as he straddled Flynn’s hips. “There, now how ‘bout you go on and lay down,” he instructed, giving Flynn little kisses all the way down.

Flynn couldn’t restrain himself now that Jacob was above him; his hand went for Jacob’s torso, feeling the lines of muscle there. “I’ve been wanting to do that since the waterfall,” Flynn admitted.

“Have you, now? Well, don’t be shy,” Jacob muttered, leaning down to let his mouth explore Flynn more.

\---

While they could’ve been more well-rested, they woke up the next morning to sun seeping through the curtains, a little stiff in places that hadn’t been sore the night before. Jacob was lazily carding his fingers through Flynn’s hair, where his head still laid on the Guardian’s chest. Once Flynn had savored the memories of the night before, his mind was on to more questions about the Guardian’s past. “How long did you train at Shangri-La?”

Jacob’s hand hesitated a moment before it resumed its path through Flynn’s bedhead. “A couple months, near soon as the Library hired me.”

Flynn traced the lines of Jacob’s torso. “Where else did you train? Your form was...unique.” 

“There’s a lot to be learned from bar brawls and school yard fights,” Jacob said, hand moving down Flynn’s neck to his shoulders, making the Librarian shivver. “I had more than my fair share of them.”

For awhile they enjoyed each other’s touch in silence, but eventually Flynn’s curiosity returned. “What did Edward mean when he said you hated magic?” 

Now Jacob’s hand stopped moving. “I don’t...Edward liked usin’ it, to save the day, he said. I hated that he did that. Magic is...it’s dangerous, and power corrupts. It’s the reason the Library exists, to keep it out of the hands of those who want to wreak havoc.”

Flynn turned his head so he was looking at Jacob, as much as he could anyway. “Was he always...how he is now?”

Jacob looked away in thought. “I never thought so, I mean, sure, he was headstrong, but his heart was in the right place, or ‘least I thought it was.” 

“Were you two...close?” 

“No, he, well, he didn’t even know about me,” Jacob said. He still wasn’t looking at Flynn. 

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I think breakfast...or maybe lunch is in order,” Flynn said, sitting up. 

Jacob looked back at Flynn, smiling, but he still seemed distant. “Sounds great.”

They got dressed and made their way to a cafe just down the street from the hotel, spear blade safely sheathed in Jacob’s boot. They ate their food and coffee in a politely ravenous manner, earning a couple glances from other patrons. 

“Have you published anything?” Flynn asked Jacob out of the blue.

“What?” Jacob said around a mouthful.

“Any papers, books? I know the way you talked about the language of the birds sounded familiar, but I’ve read countless essays and articles and books to pin down the specific ones I’m thinking of that sounded like you. I mean you had to have done it under a pen name-”

Jacob held up his hand to get Flynn to quiet. “I have, under pen names,” Jacob answered, emphasizing the plural. 

Flynn did not want to let this go. He racked his mind, temporarily ignoring his food. “Was Dr. Oliver Thompson one of them?”

Jacob huffed, more amused than annoyed. “Yup.” Just as he took another bite, a sizeable dart sunk into his neck.

“Jacob!” Flynn half shouted, shooting up from his chair. Jacob stood up too, albeit slower than Flynn, and he swayed a little on his feet. 

Jacob pulled the dart out, looking around, but his head turned too slowly to really cover the area. “Flynn, run,” he slurred, somehow still standing. Flynn instinctively backed up, just in time for some Serpent Brotherhood brutes to descend on Jacob, who then finally passed out. 

Flynn was torn; Jacob told him to run, and he wanted to, but he didn’t wanna leave Jacob. He didn’t get much time to think as the men dragged the unconscious Guardian over to a truck, and sped off. It was then that Flynn realized the blade was still in Jacob’s boot, though the mercenaries didn’t seem to know that as they had taken Flynn’s messenger bag too, not that it would do them any good. Freaking out, Flynn ran down the street in the direction the truck had gone, but there was no way he was going to catch them by foot. He stopped to catch his breath conveniently near another tv. 

“Flynn, what’s wrong?” Judson asked. He was sitting in a chair, unlike yesterday’s magical video call.

“Jacob, they took him, a tranquilizer dart, they have the spear, the Serpent Brotherhood took him,” Flynn rambled. 

“Alright, alright, not all is lost. It took a great power to split the spear, and it’ll take even more to fuse the pieces together again,” Judson said.

“How much?”

“Well, mysticism aside, you’ll need a local electromagnetic field registering over fifteen on the Shoum scale,” Judson explained.

“Okay, good,” Flynn said, nodding and pacing a little. “The only time that kind of energy’s ever been registered was during a peak full moon at the great pyramid, when it had its capstone. The Egyptian government refuses to replace the-” Flynn had an epiphany “-capstone. Next peak full moon is tomorrow night. Call the marines, Judson, I’m coming home.”

\---

That night, New York time, Flynn sneaked up to a service entrance of the museum where just a few weeks ago, he had been working with Professor Harris. He tried busting down the door, but only gave himself a bruised shoulder. 

“Flynn,” Judson said, startling him, “we can get in through the ventilation system.”

“Where are the marines?” Flynn asked, looking around.

Judson pulled back the collar of his shirt revealing a small tattoo of the eagle, globe and anchor. “Semper fi.”

“You were a marine,” Flynn said, to which Judson nodded. Flynn had no idea how they were going to get Jacob and the spear, just the two of them. “Good, good.”

“Well now, let’s get that spear back.”

They snuck in, through the ventilation system, and approached the gathering of the Serpent Brotherhood gathering around the scale pyramid from the second floor. Flynn spotted an annoyingly familiar face. “Well well well, Professor Harris. I should’ve known he was evil. He gave me an A minus.”

Edward stepped out of the pyramid, spear pieces in hand. His two main henchman-hench people...the bald one and the lady, stepped out from behind him, Jacob in tow with hands bound behind him. “Serpent Brothers, our dream comes true tonight,” Edward addressed the gathering.

“Doesn’t that guy ever die,” Flynn whispered to Judson. 

“We call down the power of the gods, the ancient ones,” Edward said, lifting the pieces up. Then, from the capstone, the pyramid lit up, blue energy coursing down to the base and back up like a scanner before flashing at the capstone. Edward and the people on the stairs with him, Jacob included, went into the pyramid replica as the others outside started chanting, led by Professor Harris no less.

Judson and Flynn made their way to the first floor, hiding behind a large stone head.  _ There’s just too many of them.  _ “I can’t do this alone,” Flynn whispered.

“Well, you got me,” Judson said. 

“No offence, Judson, but you’re-” Flynn was interrupted by Judson slamming a patrolling guard’s face into the stone. “You bad mother.”

“I was a Librarian too, you know,” Judson said, and then sneaked off to get a better position on the crowd waiting for Edward. Flynn, knowing all the entrances of the pyramid best, decided to sneak in there because Edward was up to no good.

Flynn’s suspicions were confirmed when he got in there just in time to see Edward stab the bald guy with the newly repaired spear, and consume his soul before throwing him into the magical field created by the capstone. He was about to do the same to Jacob too, but Flynn was not about to let that happen.

“Dying by the very thing you hate, how fitting,” Edward said, and started towards Jacob, spear aimed at his stomach, but Flynn jumped out and tackled Edward before it could touch Jacob. The Guardian looked at Flynn in surprise, and promptly followed him out of the pyramid, only to be greeted by the crowd waiting on Edward. “Kill,” Edward commanded, then went back into the pyramid. The lady followed him.

Seeing Jacob needed his hands, Flynn undid the handcuffs. “Ha, Houdini, Prague, nineteen twenty six,” Flynn said as he threw the cuffs away.

Just then Judson joined them. “We have to get the spear back to the Library,” he said, which prompted the crowd to attack them. Judson went straight to work, taking down several men. Flynn glanced to Jacob, who was gawking just as much as Flynn was. “Get the spear away from Wilde, before he gets too powerful,” Judson commanded. Knowing he wasn’t much good in a fight, Flynn sprinted into the pyramid.

Professor Harris stepped out in front of Flynn, so Flynn used his momentum to break his nose. “You...you broke my nose!” the professor said, blood dripping. “How dare you Flynn!”

“Yeah, I did what you said,” Flynn mocked, grabbing the professor by his jacket. “I learned a few things in the big, bad, real world!” He turned the professor around and gave him a good kick, sending him down the stairs to the floor. Flynn couldn’t get farther into the pyramid though, as the lady came out, gun pointed at him.

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” she said, voice disturbingly gentle despite the chaos around them. “We’re gonna rule the world. We can be together.”

Flynn blinked at her in confusion and fear, but thankfully Jacob had been paying more attention and ran up and decked her square in the temple. “Get your own geek,” he growled. Flynn moved past her on the floor, going up to Jacob, grinning. Jacob nodded towards the doorway, and Flynn ran inside.

Edward was standing just at the edge of the energy field. “It’s too late Flynn. The power of the spear is MINE!” He backhanded Flynn with inhuman strength, sending the Librarian into the nearby wall head first. Blood trickled out of gash above Flynn’s temple. He felt it, just a surface wound, but head wounds always bleed a lot.

Edward stalked over to him. “You’re the best they could come up with?” He then went to stab Flynn with the spear, but Flynn rolled out of the way, letting the spear impact the stone right where he had been. Edward pushed it back a couple inches with the force of his jab. Flynn barely got to his feet before Edward was swiping at him. In his backpedalling, Flynn tripped over rubble. “You’re too clumsy to even die properly!” Edward snarled, spear in one hand ready to throw. Flynn scrambled backwards into the wall, then promptly rolled out of the way.

Just then Flynn realized which stones Edward had shoved back. So he ran to the next corner, Edward trailing him. Edward caught him with the butt of the spear, recovered, and did what Flynn wanted on the third cornerstone. 

After Edward hit the fourth cornerstone, Flynn was just beat up enough that he couldn’t get away quick enough. He got roundhouse kicked in the jaw, sending him dazed into a pillar. Edward then took him by the throat and hoisted him up like Flynn weighed nothing.

“Goodbye Librarian,” Edward said, and tossed Flynn towards the energy field, which promptly dissipated as soon as Flynn neared it. 

“If even one of the support stones are off even by an inch,” Flynn said, struggling to get to his feet, “the whole pyramid collapses.” He picked up a bit of rubble already crumbling in his hand. “I’d say this was out of alignment.”

“I will destroy you!” Edward roared.

“You never will!” Flynn retorted. “You know why? Because the things that make life worth living can’t be thought here-” he smacked Edward under the chin with the rubble in his hand “-they must be felt here!” Flynn sent Edward stumbling back with a forceful blow to the sternum, enough to put him just under the capstone. And just as Flynn predicted, the capstone came crashing down onto Edward, finally killing the previous Librarian. The spear, undamaged, flew to Flynn’s hands.

Outside, Judson and Jacob had taken care of all the other Serpent Brotherhood people, leaving mess of bodies on the floor. “I believe this belongs to the Library,” Flynn said, using the spear for more support to stand than he’d like to admit.

Jacob didn’t seem to care, he was looking at Flynn with a proud smile...and maybe a bit of bedroom eyes, but Flynn couldn’t be certain considering he did hit his head.

\---

_ Three Months Later _

Flynn had taken his mother out for a brunch at a café, where of course she was trying to set him up with the three ladies at a nearby table. “Flynn is a librarian now, but he’s capable of so much more. He just needs the right woman to push him.”

“Mom, you don’t understand. Being a Librarian is actually a pretty cool job,” Flynn said. He leaned towards her a little. “And you don’t need to keep trying to fix me up, I told you that.”

His mom seemed a little taken aback at his bluntness, but brushed it off. “This mysterious J, never quite around to meet the mother, or even have a real first name.”

“I told you, it’s their first initial,” Flynn said, a bit exasperated. “Well, it’s complicated.” 

Just then, a motorcycle jumped a potted hedge, drove right into the middle of café patio, and stopped right at their table. Flynn’s mother was shocked, but Flynn looked cool as a cucumber, though in his head he was battling the sudden rush of adrenaline. 

Jacob pulled his full-face helmet off, smirking at Flynn. “Hey there, handsome,” Jacob said as Flynn stood up to greet him via a kiss. His mom gasped, making Flynn remember that he should introduce Jacob and not stand there thinking about how stupidly sexy the leather jacket looked on his Guardian.

“Jacob, this is my mother,” Flynn said, forcing his gaze to his mother for a brief moment.

“Pleasure to meet you Mrs. Carsen,” Jacob drawled, putting on that stupidly charming smile of his (it took all of Flynn’s self-control not to kiss it off his face) and offering Flynn’s mother his hand. 

“Oh no, the pleasure is mine,” Mrs. Carsen said, taking his hand, which he then brought up to his lips to give a polite kiss on her knuckles before letting her hand go. She looked thoroughly charmed.

Jacob then looked at Flynn. “The Deadly Scorpion League has found H. G. Well’s time machine. We’re the only ones who can get it back.”

“Deadly Scorpion League, what is it with these bad guys and insect names for clubs,” Flynn said, a bit exasperated. Then he looked to his mother. “Mom, I get going,” he leaned down to give her a kiss on the cheek, “see you soon.” He then got on the back of Jacob’s motorcycle, though he narrowed his eyes at the grin on Jacob’s face. “You’re smiling...why are you smiling?”

“Oh, deadly time-travelling ninjas out to kill us,” Jacob said like he was describing the color of the plates on the table.

Flynn shook his head. “Just a normal day at work,” he said, smiling as he put on the spare helmet. Once Flynn had secured his arms around Jacob’s waist, the Guardian sped off into the street, said ninjas hot on their tail.

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently I just needed some more Flynnstone, because I had seriously thought my first Librarians fic for 2019 was going to be another Jazekiel one, or another installment on my [Land Pirate AU](https://archiveofourown.org/series/752199). Though it wasn’t near as original as my other stuff, considering I used dialog and scenes directly from the movie. Oh well, whatever gets me out of my writing slump I guess!
> 
> I always pictured Stone as one of those “on the fence” characters, where he had the ability to be either a Guardian or Librarian with his skillset and personality. That’s probably why I wanted to play with him being a Guardian. Also, I wanted to play around with Stone’s history more, mainly giving him access to the Library earlier in his life. I didn’t think he actually went to college, so he did all his degrees online or something because of the aliases he used, but wiki says Stone went to college so idk. Mainly, my thinking is if Stone actually went to a college in person...he wouldn’t go back to oil rigging and he’d be a professor instead ( see “And the Happily Ever Afters” where that was his dream job).


End file.
